Why This Architecture?
Technology feels like an ocean of descisions. Let's break it down.
Architecture Philosophy
There are literally thousands of different options when building a website. My goals are to build a fast, secure, and cost effective website that can scale to millions of users. The website also needs to be incredibly easy to maintain.
This puts me at a few assumptions: I need to be on the Cloud, so I don't have to self host proxies or repair hardware. I need to be able to scale to millions of users, so I need something with automatic scaling. I need low cost, so I need something that is cheap/free when I'm not using it.
Scalability First
Serverless automatically scales from zero to millions of requests without capacity planning. This means Google Cloud manages the resources and overhead instead of a dedicated server.
Security by Design
HTTPS-only traffic, Google managed SSL certificates, and Google Cloud's out-of-the-box security suite manages the basics.
Cost Optimization
Pay-per-use pricing with serverless means you are only billed for the data users access. This is a huge cost savings over a traditional server.
Performance
Global load balancer and CDN(Content Delivery Network) ensure fast response times for users worldwide.
Development
Automated CI/CD(Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipelines enable rapid, reliable website updates.
High Availability
Multi-region deployment and automatic failover with Google Cloud ensure 99.9%+ uptime with little to no maintenance.
Technology Decisions
Carefully evaluated choices that prioritize scalability, performance, and maintainability
Load Balancer Choice
Why Google Cloud Load Balancer?
- Global Anycast IP: Single IP address send traffic to the region closest to the user.
- SSL Termination: Google manages website certificates with automatic renewal.
- DDoS Protection: Built-in protection against large-scale malicious attacks.
Why DNS?
- Recognizable Domain: Send traffic from your domain name to your website IP.
- Custom Emails: Professional, custom email addresses with your domain name.
Website Strategy
Why Cloud Storage + CDN?
- Static Asset Optimization: Everyone sees the same website. Cloud Storage caches all static pages and lets the user's browser handle the rest.
- CDN Integration: Global edge caching for instance website responsiveness.
- Cost Efficiency: Lower storage costs compared to compute instances
- Infinite Scale: No storage limits or management overhead
Why HTML, CSS, and JavaScript?
- Classic Choice: This website is a classic stack with no proprietary tools or vendor lock-in. Deploy anywhere and develop anywhere.
- Performance: Animations, transitions, and other effects are fast and don't require a powerful computer.
Runtime Choice
Why Cloud Run?
- Serverless Benefits: No server management or capacity planning
- Container Native: Deploy any language or framework
- Cold Start Optimization: Fast startup times for better UX
- Automatic Scaling: Scales to zero when not in use and scales to millions of requests when needed.
Why Python and Flask in a Docker Container?
- Easy Choice: Coding in Python is easy, and Flask is a simple, lightweight framework that is easy to learn. This saves time, and time is money.
- Containerization: Docker containers are easy to deploy and scale. They are also easy to maintain and update.
Alternative Architectures
Understanding why this architecture was chosen over other viable options.
vs.
VMs
Why: Virtual Machines are more expensive, and require more maintenance. They are also less scalable, and less secure.
vs.
Kubernetes
Why: Kubernetes adds complexity for simple applications. Cloud Run provides container benefits without hassle.
vs.
Microservices
Why: Monolithic architecture is simpler and easier to maintain. Microservices lead to infrastructure sprawl and complexity.
vs.
Self-Managed
Why: Managed services reduce the need for operating system updates, security patches, and other maintenance.
vs.
Node.js
Why: Flask is not as performant as Node.js for complex tasks. I would choose Node.js in a dynamic or higher scale website with significant functionality. However, Python / Flask offers the capabilities needed for the majority of websites with faster time to market.
vs.
Squarespace
Why: This comes down to control, customization, and performance. A custom HTML / CSS / JavaScript website can integrate anything you can imagine, look however you can imagine, and run FAST. Squarespace is limiting in what you can design and fundamentally 'owns' your site. You can't export your Squarespace site unless you remake your website.
vs.
Wordpress
Why: The issues with Wordpress are similar to Squarespace. I have clients come to me with Wordpress sites that aren't meeting their needs. I often have to break the news to them that the website needs to be remade completely with better architecture because Wordpress will not accomplish what they need(most common issue is 5+ second load times)
vs.
[Insert Startup Website Host]
Why: Websites are meant to serve you. You are not meant to serve your websites. When the startup venture capital money is burnt, your website may just end up disappearing. The only providers I would recommend are the 3 major Cloud Providers(AWS, Azure, and GCP) if you would like to deploy your site worry-free.
Expected Outcomes
Ready to Build Your Website with This Architecture?
Let me build your website using these proven cloud architecture principles for maximum performance, security, and scalability.
I Will Build Your Website